KEEPING AKILI GIRLS IN SCHOOL THROUGH SCHOLARSHIPS

Dear Friend,

We hope this finds you well. It has been about 3 months since we reopened school following COVID 19 related closures. Despite a 3rd wave of the Covid 19 being reported in Kenya, we are grateful that we have successfully kept all our girls safely in school without experiencing any major challenges. As the students go back home to spend the April holidays with their families this week, we cant thank you enough for partnering with us to care for these needy girls who would otherwise not be in school due to the poor backgrounds the come from and the inability of their parents to effectively provide for and educate them.

It has aslo been 8 years since we opened our doors to the first group of girls in preschool. These girls are currently sitting for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams which will enable them to transition to high school in July 2021. We are so proud of them and the empowered girls they have become. It has been our joy to receive them when very young and to nurture them over the years with your incredible support. 

Our goal is to continue supporting them through high school by providing scholarships, school uniforms and mentorship. 

At Akili school, your support enabled us to provide food, pay teachers and meet the running costs of the school. We were also able to engage the girls in gardening. How wonderful it has been to see all the remarkable work they have put in growing their own healthy vegetables and improving nutrition at the school!

We have seen a huge difference in the performance of these students with 90% of the girls scoring above average in their monthly continuous assessment tests. School attendance at Akili school has been 100% this semester! 

As we were distributing school uniforms to our partner high schools, we met girls who have been forced into transactional sex for sanitary pads, food and money to support their struggling families. It has been very devastating listening to them narrate their stories and hardships they face every day to survive. 

We are more than encouraged to continue working hard to connect them to all the resources they need to thrive and access education which will one day emancipate them from poverty.

Thank you very much for walking this journey with us. 

We look forward to continuing partnering with you to support these girls again next semester which starts in May 2020.

Again, thank you for investing in the lives of our girls.